Vampire Academy: The Next Generation
by Belikovgrl8
Summary: Rose and Dimitri had a child, her name is Jade Belikov. The world doesn't know that Dimitri is actually her father. 14 years later Jade is shipped off to St. Vlad's, following in the footsteps of her mother. But when strange things start happening, it's up to Jade to solve the mystery before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own vampire academy

10 years after ruby circle  
Rose was sick. Not sick minded like most people thought, but actual honest to God, flu type sick. Her husband Dimitri was holding back her hair, as she heaved into the toilet the 3rd time that morning.  
"I don't understand," she groaned once the horrible feeling stopped, "how could this happen?!" It was extremely rare for dhampirs to get sick, let alone the flu.  
Dimitri helped her into bed then looked at the clock, he gave an exasperated sigh, "Maybe I should stay home from work..."  
"No no, I'll be fine," Rose said with as much conviction as she could muster, and really she was, "My stomachs already stopped hurting."  
Dimitri looked torn, "Okay, but call me if you need anything." He gave her a kiss on her forehead and then left their room to get ready for work.  
She was still really tired, from having to work late the night before, and so she just rolled over and went to sleep.  
And right away she could tell that she was being pulled into a spirit dream.  
"Hey little Dhampir," Rose whirled around to see Adrian Ivashkov, he was tall, like most Moroi, however he was looking tired, I guess being a father of two had that kind of effect on you.  
"How are Carly and Declan?" She asked referring to his kids.  
"Their great," he said smiling, "Carly is starting kindergarten this year actually."  
"Oh, really" something like longing entered her voice, 'if only I could have kids' Rose thought to herself, but out loud she said, "And Sydney?"  
"She's doing great too, got another promotion at work, that over achiever,"  
"That's great," Rose said, really happy for her friends good news.

"But how are you doing Rose?" he asked, I guess wasn't much better than his  
"I just have a little stomach flu," Rose said with a grimace.  
"Really?" Adrian replied, he then really began to look her over. Rose knew that he was seeing her aura. His eyes began to focus on her stomach, and then they widened in surprise.  
"What is it Adrian?" Rose asked feeling her heartbeat in her ears.  
Adrian's response was quick and clipped, "uh nothing, gotta go."  
"Wait!" Rose was julted awake, shouting at an empty room. "What the hell just happened?" She hopped out of bed and started getting dressed. She was no longer feeling tired, but anxious and worried. She was just about to grab her phone when it had started to ring. She checked the caller ID, and saw that it was Sydney.  
"Hey Sydney, what's up," Rose tried to leave the anxiety out of her voice.  
"Rose, we need to talk." Her voice was alchemist serious.  
"What is it Sydney?" Rose felt sick again, but she didn't think it was because of the flu anymore.  
"We should do this in person. How fast can you get here?" Sydney asked.  
"Well if I talk to Lissa I'm sure I could get ..."  
"Great talk to Lissa I'll see you soon." Sydney cut in.  
"Sydney what is this about?"  
"Gotta go Rose, bye."  
"Sydney!" Rose shouted, but the line was already dead.

...

Dimitri walked in to see his wife sitting on the bed staring at her phone, a look of worry scarring her perfect face.  
"Rose, what happened?"  
Rose slowly looked up. "What are you doing home?" She sounded very dazed, it was almost as if she'd seen a ghost. Which wasn't possible since the breaking of the bond.  
"I managed to get off early once I told them that you were sick." Dimitri said gently, almost as if to sooth a wild animal. "Why were you staring at your phone?"  
"I just talked to Sydney and Adrian."  
There was a long pause.  
"And..."  
"I gotta go." and like that she stood up and started packing.  
"Rose, what happened?" She ignored him and kept on packing. "Rose." nothing, "ROZA!" at that she looked up, and Dimitri could see that there were tears in her eyes. "What happened?" Dimitri spoke more gently this time.  
Rose broke down and told him everything. "I'm scared comrade." She whispered.  
"It's probably nothing." Dimitri said, rubbing his wife's shoulders.  
"It has to be something, they sounded very serious, and why wouldn't they just tell me what it was!" Hysteria was rising in her voice again.  
"You'll be fine, and I'll be there with you. Whatever it is, I'll always be there for you."  
"Thank you," Rose said feeling herself calm down. "God, I don't know why I was getting so emotional, I'm never like this." She said wiping at her eyes.  
"I'll go see Lissa about a flight and talk to Hans about some time off. You finish packing." Dimitri stood up, and then went to go see the Queen of all Moroi.

...

An hour later they were on a flight to go see Adrian and Sydney. When the flight landed, they drove straight to the Ivashkov's. Dimitri could already feel Rose's anxiety, and tried to calm her down by holding her hand. He squeezed it a few times to help bring her back to reality. Rose turned to him and smiled, failing to hide her true feelings.  
They pulled up to the driveway, then just sat for a few minutes. After a few more deep breaths, and another reassuring hand squeeze from Dimitri, Rose lead the way up the walkway. She gave one last scared glance towards Dimitri, then knocked on the door. Sydney opened it up almost immediately. She was extremely calm, but Rose knew that that was only from years of being an alchemist. She only looked momentarily surprised to see Dimitri, but seemed to take it in stride.  
"Rose, Dimitri... Why don't you come in?" She smiled, and opened the door wider. Rose and Dimitri entered quietly as Sydney ushered them towards the living room. "Please have a seat." She said.  
After a few moments of awkward silence Sydney said, "So would you guys like something to drink, Rose I just bought some hot chocolate..."  
"Sydney what is it?" Rose finally burst out. "Please tell me I can't take it anymore, is it bad, am I dying, is it.."  
"Rose calm down," Dimitri said, taking her hand and giving it another squeeze. He then turned his attention back to Sydney.  
"Your not dying Rose." She said. It's just, well... Adrian and I may have left out some very important information."  
"How important?" Dimitri asked.  
"Something that we should have told you about 10 years ago." Sydney took a breath, "Declan was adopted."  
There was silence.  
"What ... what does that have to do with me?" Rose asked.  
"Declan wasn't exactly conceived in a normal way. His parents were both dhampirs."  
"That's not possible," Dimitri was in full denial.  
"It is if one of the parents used to be Strigoi." Sydney spoke the words softly, but Roses attention jerked to Dimitri.  
"We... we could have kids." Rose whispered in disbelief. She then turned to Sydney, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"  
"Adrian and I planned on it trust me, but we were also terrified for Declan."  
"What do you mean?" Dimitri asked.  
"Declan would never have a normal life if the world knew, and we had figured that the more people who knew..."  
"The more likely the secret would get out." Rose concluded.  
"Adrian and I had meant to tell you, but we just kept putting it off. Eventually we thought that there must be something wrong with either your eggs or your sperm," Sydney gestured to Rose and then Dimitri.  
"Oh." Rose said her voice edged in disappointment.  
"Why are you telling us now?" Dimitri asked  
"Well Rose, Adrian told me you've been feeling sick."  
"And..." Rose said.  
"Have you also been having dizzy spells, felt hormonal, and been excessively tired?" She asked.  
Rose thought for a moment, "I guess but..."  
"Rose when was the last time you were on your menstrual cycle?"  
"You think I'm pregnant!" Rose burst out.  
"Roza calm down," Dimitri whispered, grabbing on to her again.  
"There really is only one way to find out." Sydney said. She then pulled a box out of a brown paper bag. On it was the label pregnancy test. "Just pee on the stick."  
"I know how it works!" Rose snapped. Sydney looked taken aback but let it slide.  
"Roza, why don't you just go see if it's true, it can't hurt." Dimitri said.  
"Fine, but no promises." And like that Rose was off to the washroom. It was awhile before Rose reemerged. Dimitri could tell by the look on her face what the test said. He could see the fear and disbelief in her eyes. Immediately he ran to her side, and wrapped his strong muscular arms around her smaller frame, as she began to cry. "Stupid hormones" she murmured into his shoulder. Sydney let them have their moment, but soon cut in again.  
"Now we have to discuss your options." She said, drawing the couple apart.  
"What options" Rose sniffled.  
"Well you two are pretty much famous so there's no way to hide the pregnanc-"  
"I'm not getting an abortion!"  
"Rose!" Dimitri exclaimed, "Let Sydney continue."  
"Agreed," Sydney said, "But you'll have to have a cover story. I mean, unless you want your child to become an outsider." Rose shakes her head. "Well then you have one of two options, isolation, stay hidden during the obvious points of the pregnancy and then either put the child up for adoption or claim that you yourself adopted the child."  
"I couldn't stay away from Lissa that long." Rose said.  
"And wouldn't others find it odd that the child looks a lot like me and Rose," Dimitri adds.  
"Agreed, so that brings us to option number two. Artificial insemination."  
"Artificial insemination!" Rose repeats, "Sydney I'm already pregnant, I don't see how this will help."  
"You just tell everyone that baby was inseminated by Moroi sperm. And then just go with it from there, no one would ever have to know that the child was Dimitri's."  
"But Moroi doctors don't do AI." Rose said pointing out the only flaw in the plan.  
"However human doctors do." Sydney points out, "and they can even let you choose someone you know to be the doner."  
"But no Moroi would do that." Dimitri says, "that's why this has never happened before."  
"Except I know someone who is willing to put his name on the child." Sydney says.  
"Who?" Dimitri and Rose say in unison.  
"Adrian."  
"No." Rose says, "no no no. Sydney I can't do that to you, people will talk."  
"And I'm prepared for that, please Rose, Adrian and I know that this is our fault. We should have told you sooner, but we didn't so now we are prepared to help any way we can." Sydney pauses for effect, "besides Dimitri and Adrian are cousins so any similarities can be blamed on their close relations, besides you both have brown eyes and brown hair so no one will question colouring."  
"Wow Syd looks like you've really thought this through." Rose said than looked at Dimitri and smiled, "I guess we're having a baby."  
Dimitri smiled back and decided at that moment to pick rose up and twirl her around. He laughed as Rose squealed, than he said, "Oh, Roza I never thought you could make me any happier but I was wrong. He put her down and wraped her in a bear hug.

Months passed, and no one questioned Roses pregnancy, Lissa was extremely excited, and Rose knew even before the child was born that she was gonna spoil the child beyond imaginable.  
"I still can't believe Adrian was willing to do this for you." Lissa would say. Rose and Dimitri never let on the truth, like Sydney and Adrian they too were terrified of the truth coming out. And when the baby girl was born, she was blessed with the green eyes of the Ivashkov's, and so the truth would never be questioned. They named her Jade Elena Belikov. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy

14 years later  
I was sitting in the small kitchen of our house, my parents Rose and Dimitri Belikov were there too, with stupid grins on their faces. My mother was said to have been startlingly beautiful in her day. Both age and the after math of pregnancy hadn't seemed to affect her much. My father, seven years her senior still looked at her with so much adoration, I wondered if my mother even noticed half the time. Unlike her, his hair, cut close to his scalp, was now steaked with silver. He had changed from the pictures I had seen, with his long dark locks. Of course because he was a dhampir he wasn't really my father, but I had grown up calling him Dad and I was the closest thing he had to a daughter.

"You're what?" I asked, not believing the words that had just left their mouths.

"We are sending you to St. Vladimir's Academy" Mom said again. I looked at Dad, to see if she was really telling the truth, by the look on his face, she was.

"But…why?" I asked. Mom looked up at Dad, obviously he was going to take it from here.

"Jade, now that you're 14, most of the dhampirs your age are starting their training, and your mother and I believe that you would benefit more in a class room environment then with a private tutor." I looked at them in disbelief.

"Jade, honey, it's really for the best." Mom said, taking my hand in hers. "It'll give you time to live without us, and it'll give you time to just be yourself, and figure out who you are. It'll probably be the closest thing you'll ever have to college experience."

"I'm only 14!" I yelled getting up and crossing the room towards the door.

"Jade Elena Belikov, you sit down right now and listen to us!" Dad wasn't yelling but his deep voice boomed in the small kitchen.

I turned to look at them, "The guardian life may have suited you guys, but who ever said that I even wanted to learn how to fight."

Mom and Dad looked at each other before Mom continued speaking. "Jade, we never said that you had to become a guardian."

"No, I'm just learning to train because it's good for the soul." I replied sarcastically.

"You watch your tone young lady!" Dad didn't look happy.

"This doesn't have to be a bad thing, I had a blast at St. Vlad's and I started when I was only 5. I'm sure you will have fun there too, if you will just give it a chance." She gave me a look, and I sat down again.

"When am I leaving?" I asked.

"Tomorrow" Mom replied.

"What!" I jumped out of my chair again, but Dad gave me another look that made me sit down.

Mom sat down beside me taking my hand again. "Jade, we know it isn't a lot of time, but we feel that this is the best option for you. And if you still don't want to be a guardian by the end of the 4 years, no one will force you. You know that the strigoi are a bigger threat than ever, and the skills you will learn at St. Vlad's will help you live a relatively normal life."

"Okay," I looked down aware that I was sounding completely pathetic, and totally defeated. I looked back up to see Mom and Dad visibly relax.

I sat under my favourite tree with my best friend Hanna Dragomir. "That's not fair!" she cried out as I told her the news. "They can't do this to us…I mean…you." Her piercing blue eyes flinched at her own words.

I laughed at her response, "Nice to know where your priorities lie." I joked.

"Oh come on, who else is going to drive the royal tutors crazy while you're away!" I thought back to all the shared tutoring sessions we had where I repeatedly drove them crazy with my sarcastic remarks.

I laughed, "Oh and save you from your brothers," Hanna was the youngest of five, Mom always said that Aunt Lissa was so determined for a girl, that she probably would have had 20 kids before she gave up.

"That too, and who else am I going to hang out with around court," She faked devastation as she flipped back her blond hair, completely different from my own dark brown locks.

"Oh come on, you could always hang out with Lily Rinaldi," I laughed as Hanna made a face.

"No way, she's crazy." I laughed again as she did the hand signals for cuckoo.

"Okay, okay, but you'll find someone to replace me. I'm the one going out to the middle of nowhere. I will know absolutely no one."

"Right, you'll probably be the leader of whatever pack runs the place," She laughed.

"Oh yeah, more like the loser pack." I made a face.

"Oh come on Jade, you know that isn't true, and besides nobody could ever take your place."

"Aww, now don't get all sentimental on me… It's not like I'm leaving forever, I'll be back for thanksgiving."

"Promise?" She asked holding up her pinky.

"Promise." And at that we locked our two fingers.

"Hey, I'll help you pack."

"Mom, Hanna's staying for supper!" I yelled as I walked into the house.

"Does her mother know?" Mom called back from the kitchen. I looked at Hanna as she shrugged.

"No, but we'll call her." I replied.

"Don't bother, I'll do it." was Mom's response.

As Hanna and I crawled up the stairs she turned to me and said, "Your Mom's the one cooking?"

I looked at her and said, "What she's not that bad."

"Right and my mother isn't the Queen of moroi." she replied sarcastically.

"Alright, alright, but she has improved since the oven mitt incident." By that I meant the time Mom accidently left the mitt on one of the burners, and it quickly caught on fire. Good thing Uncle Christian was there to help put it out. He had given her a look and said, "Seriously Rose, it should be against the law for you to cook." To which her response was, "Oh shut up Sparky!"

"Okay, but we should keep the fire extinguisher close by just in case." Hanna said, bringing me back to the present. We finished our ascent up the stairs and made it to my room, and as per usual it was an utter pig sty.

"Eww, Jade you should really think about cleaning up."

"Hey not everyone has maids cleaning their rooms all the time. Besides that's what you're here for." I walked in and flopped down on the unmade bed.

"Oh no I'm not, I only said I would help, you got to do the rest." She threw a suitcase at me and started to work on the mess. I was half way through packing my sweaters when Hanna asked, "Hey shouldn't you wash those?"

I raised a brow than responded, "Do they have washing machines at St. Vlad's"

"Well I suppose…"

"Than their fine." I replied throwing more sweaters in the bag. Once we had finished packing most of my clothes, mom came in to tell us that supper was done.

We had made it downstairs to find that Mom had in fact ordered pizza. I laughed, "What happened to the food in the kitchen?" I asked looking at my mothers' tired face.

"Well," she started, "That would be a tale for another time, but the end result was, I decided I didn't want to give you food poisoning before your first day of school."

"Yes," Hanna said, "That would be frowned upon." They laughed but I made a face.

"So any other time it would've been okay to feed me bad food?" I cried out.

"Oh don't be so dramatic." Mom said throwing a paper plate at me.

We cracked open the pizza box and ate in the living room. Apparently we did not want to see the disaster that was the kitchen at the moment, and we put in one of my favourite movies. We sat there laughing and eating until Dad came home from work.

"Hey honey," he said plopping a kiss on my mother's forehead. Than he began to look around. "Roza, I thought you were making supper tonight?" he said using her old nickname.

"Well comrade, we decided ordering out was safer instead." me and Hanna giggled as Dad made a face, than he shrugged as if to say, I'm not even going to ask. He started heading towards the kitchen.

Mom immediately leapt up from her spot on the couch. "What are you doing?" She asked putting herself between him and the kitchen.

"Getting some water…" he said giving her another weird look.

"I'll get it for you," Mom offered, she turned to the kitchen, but Dad had managed to dance around her and walked in.

Mom looked down, apparently expecting the worse. There was silence and then, "Rose what did you do?!"

Before anything else could happen, Hanna butted in and said, "Well I guess that's my cue to leave." She got up from her spot on the floor, and started heading for the door.

"Hey," I called after her, you're coming back though right, I mean, for like a sleep over?"

Hanna looked at me than at my mother, "Only if it's safe."

Mom smiled and replied, "It'll be fine, just be sure to talk to your parents." Mom than took off into the kitchen, probably in an attempt to calm Dad down.

"See you soon," I said to Hanna as I got up off the floor as well.

"Yeah, later." She said shutting the door behind her as she left.

I than bravely entered the kitchen that had been so pristine before. Of course that was Dad's doing. Now that Mom had gotten a hold of it, it was a complete mess. The first thing that hit me was the smell, which surprisingly hadn't reached the living room at all. It smelt burnt and like something else altogether, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But boy did it smell bad.

The next thing I noticed was that there was flour everywhere. It almost looked like I had walked into a white blob. There was also a stack of dishes in the sink the size of Mount Everest. I was actually surprised that most of the dishes hadn't toppled on the floor yet, but by the looks of it, it wasn't too long now. The oven had smoke coming out of it, and stove had something green, bubbling in a pot on top. Of course Mom wouldn't have remembered to shut everything down when she finally gave up on the fiasco, but it still shocked the hell out of me. This was the worst I had ever seen the kitchen. It almost made me want to laugh.

"Rose," Dad said again, "Please explain this."

"Well," Mom started, "I wanted tonight to be special, so I decided to make Jades favourite foods. Pizza and brownies."

"Aww, thanks Mom." I cut in. Mom smiled back at me.

"And it wasn't as easy as it looked." Dad gave her a look that said continue. "I started with the pizza and the flour just wounded up everywhere, and we ran out so I decided to open another sack. Well that fell on the floor, and it poofed up into this giant cloud that coated absolutely everything and…" Dad had started laughing, which stopped Mom in her rambling. His laughter was kind of contagious actually, because I had started laughing, and pretty soon we were all standing in the kitchen, laughing like crazy people.

When we finally calmed down, Dad said, "How in the world did I ever get so lucky to have met a woman like you?"

Mom began to blush, "You mean a woman who completely destroys a kitchen that you have worked so hard to keep clean." She said sarcastically.

"No, I mean a woman who is willing to try so hard at something she is no good at, just to please the ones she loves." Mom began to blush more.

Dad started to lean in for a kiss, but I quickly cut in and shouted, "Eww no PDA." My dad gave me a look, but decided that he would put off the kiss for later.

"Okay I guess we had better get started on cleaning this mess up."

When Hanna came back the kitchen was pretty close to its usual perfection. Mom ran off to work and so Dad decided to help me and Hanna finish packing for tomorrow. When we were done, Hanna and I continued to talk all night, when morning came it was too soon.

We made our way out to the court runway, Mom and Dad were planning to go with me via private jet. Thanks to Aunt Lissa of course, we could use the jet whenever we wanted. When we reached the plane, there was another surprise for me, Aunt Lissa and Uncle Christian had come to say goodbye. They weren't the only ones to have made it, Hanna's 4 brothers Andre, Mason, Mark, and Eric came as well. Andre was the only one who had inherited his mother's green eyes but the rest all had their father's black hair. All of them had a fair amount of their father's snarkiness and their mother's kind nature. It was that perfect combination that made them completely bearable to be around. To me they weren't just my best friend's brothers, they were like my family too. And I hadn't realized until now how much I was going to miss them.

I began to feel the tears well in my eyes as I looked at them, I didn't want to speak because I knew I would give myself away. Somehow they knew though, and so every single one of the Dragomirs came up and gave me a hug at once. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much." I cried out. Once we pulled apart Aunt Lissa stood before me with a fancy bag in her hand.

"Here you go sweety." She said handing me the bag. "This is a gift from all of us. I hope you will use it responsibly." I looked in and saw a top of the line laptop.

"Thank you so much." I said, we finished our goodbyes and boarded the plane. When we left the ground I stared at the spot where they stood until I couldn't see it anymore.

Hi ho Hi ho it's off to hell I go.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Leaving court was even harder than I ever thought possible. I was jittery with nerves, and when the plane finally landed in Montana, it was too soon. My mother looked over at me and smiled, I put on a false one in return. My parents then stood up and beckoned me to follow. My feet were like lead. How could they do this to me? Why now? This wasn't fair. When I emerged from the jet, I looked around not entirely sure what to expect.

My mother rarely talked about the academy, I found that odd because she was practically raised there. She only ever mentioned that it was the place where she first met Aunt Lissa and where they first discovered the element spirit. The only other thing she had to say about it was that it was gothic and old. That description definitely still held true today. The stone was dark and dreary, which matched the sky. I could tell right away that religion still impacted the school thoroughly. I felt like I wasn't in the 21st century anymore, but in the time of Dracula. I was almost shocked to see the students walking around in modern clothing, their cellphones out and about. How could they even get a signal right in the middle of nowhere?

We entered the dhampir dorm, which had a few couches and TV's for the common area, top of the line of course. We got my room key from the moroi in charge of the dorm. I didn't catch her name, but I figured that it wasn't really important at the moment. My parents and I entered the room, which was devoid of other people. It wasn't huge but I couldn't complain. I looked around trying to picture my stuff in here, picture books on the shelf and my sheets on the bed. I wanted to see a warm inviting place. But I just couldn't.

"You probably won't be getting a roommate." Mom said. "There aren't too many dhampir girls training to be guardians." I looked around, the room had two beds, a window sat between them and there were two night stands. There were also two dressers, two desks and two closets.

"Apparently they didn't get the message." I muttered under my breath.

"If no one shows up then you could probably get all this stuff taken out for more space." Dad said in an attempt to be helpful. I just looked at him with a defiant scowl on my face.

"Do you need any help settling in," Mom asked. I wanted them too, I really did. But I never really was good at goodbyes. It didn't help that I was still partially angry with them. I wanted to beg them to take me with them. I wanted to leave this place and head back to court and continue my pristine life. But then part of me realized that they were right. I didn't choose this life, it was thrust upon me. I wanted to run from it but I couldn't. There would always be strigoi out there, looking for a nice juicy dhampir treat. If I wanted a normal life, I was going to have to fight for it, not hide somewhere comfortable and wait for someone to save me. I couldn't, it wasn't in my blood.

"No you guys better head back to court, I think I can handle things myself. Besides it'll give me time to explore before curfew." My parents looked at each other uncertainly, but then decided it was time to say goodbye. I wanted to hug them, but I figured that it would just make it harder for all of us. So they left, and there was nothing I could do about it anymore. I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere. At least until thanksgiving. I would stick it out till then. After they left, I spent about 10 minutes attempting to unpack before I gave up, and headed for the common room.

Some other dhampirs were there as well, watching TV. All of them boys. I had two choices here, avoid them like the plague, or join them. Normally I would avoid them, because besides the family I am really awkward when it comes to talking to boys. But then I thought back to what my mother had said earlier, about there not being many female dhampirs here. So I decided to take the plunge, or risk being loner girl for the rest of the year.

I put on a fake smile and walked up to the boys, "Hey," I said as enthusiastically as I could. They turned to look me, and I felt suddenly stupid for thinking that I could get away with this.

"Hey," one of them said back. He wasn't bad looking either. He was sitting but I could already tell that he was tall. Well for a dhampir that is. He had shaggy brown hair, with dark brown eyes. His skin was tan, and he had a very muscular build. "Are you new here?" he asked.

"Um, yeah. My names Jade, Jade Belikov, actually my parents only decided to enroll me this year."

"Oh I'm Brandon, welcome to St. Vlad's," he replied.

"So what school did you go to before this one?" another boy asked. This one was a little fairer in his looks. He had blonde hair, and looked a little pale but not in a sickly way. His eyes were also brown, very similar to that of Brandon's.

"Well I guess you could say I was home schooled actually."

"Oh cool, so your mom wasn't a guardian?" Brandon asked.

"Oh, she is actually, um, I grew up at court so they kind of just stuck me with some tutors."

"That's cool." Blonde guy said. "Know anyone important?"

"Not really," I lied. I didn't want my popularity to be solely because of the people I knew. Besides with these people it would probably come across more snobby and less cool. A privileged dhampir wasn't exactly a common thing. But I was the most privileged of them all. I was the daughter of the best guardians out there. Their stories were legend.

"Yeah," Brandon said, "They probably wouldn't let a lowly dhampir girl learn with their precious royals." The other guy laughed at this, but I had to force my smile after that. I mean I know that some royals aren't the nicest, but they're still people, and didn't deserved to be judged like that. The guys invited me to stay and watch TV with them, and I decided it was fine because let's face it, what else was I going to do.

So we watched a movie for a couple of hours, I got to know them a little bit better, and found out that besides the royals remark, they were actually pretty cool people. The blonde's name was Matt and they were both in their junior year. So I wouldn't be sharing any classes with them, at least I made a couple new friends. When the movie ended they invited me to go to supper with them, but I wasn't really that hungry so I respectively declined. I headed back to my room to find that the second bed was cluttered in luggage. Great well I guess I do have a roommate after all.

I shoved my own clutter to the floor, and crawled into bed. Immediately I could tell that I was being pulled into a spirit dream.

"Hey Uncle Adrian," I said as I began to recognize my surroundings. We were in his home that he had made with Sydney, his beautiful extremely human wife. Which is why he never came to court and visited. The world wasn't quite ready to see a couple so diverse as Adrian and Sydney.

"Hey little one." He said in response, we hugged awkwardly. "Your mom wanted me to check up on you. She said that you would respond well to a good face to face conversation."

"Did she also mention that I would do better at home, where I have actual friends?"

"Look kiddo, your mom just wants to do what's best for you. And right now the academy is your best shot."

"But it isn't fair!" I cried out. I knew that I was sounding childish but I didn't really care at the moment.

"Jade." Was all he said, as I felt big wet tears stream down my face, I began to rub furiously at them.

"I miss them you know." I began. "I've only been gone a day and I miss them. Lilly and her brothers, Aunt Lissa and Uncle Christian, mom and dad. I even miss the stupid tutors!" I paused to take in a breath. "How am I supposed to survive till thanksgiving?"

"Oh kid, it won't be easy, but St. Vlad's can't be that bad. You'll make friends, you probably already have."

"Well there were some boys…" I started as Adrian stiffened.

"Boys?" I nodded. "Jade what kind of boys?" he asked.

"Don't be worried Uncle Adrian, I'll be fine." I brushed it off.

"Do we need to have the talk?" he asked.

"Eeew no. Seriously do you even have a filter?"

"Okay, okay I'll drop it." He said. "But see your already doing great."

"I would do better at court." I mumbled.

He sighed in frustration, "Look do you want me to lie, to tell you that your mother is a cold a hearted snake, well I can. But it won't change a thing. In reality I think your mom should have sent you here sooner. But she wanted you to have a stronger sense of family than she ever did." He paused as my mouth dropped open. "Look, I don't know how much your mother told you about her child hood but it was rough. If it weren't for your father she would have drowned in darkness in more ways than one. You have to have faith in her, and know that she truly does know best."

"Okay," was all I said.

"Why don't you get some rest," Adrian said, he kissed my forehead and left me to my own dreams.

When I woke up the next morning my roommate was already gone, so much for a friendly environment. I got up and got dressed rushing towards the dining hall, I was starved after missing a meal the night before.


	4. Chapter 4

The Montana air was cool on my face as I walked to the caff with my stomach in knots. Once I found my way to the building, I realized I was completely and utterly lost. I watched a lot of the classic highschool films growing up, but none of them prepared for what I found when I entered the building. All those films went on and on about cliques, but as I looked around I realized that you couldn't tell just by looking what was the one thing that kept these groups together. I noticed Brandon and Matt, but they looked a little busy, their table being surrounded by pretty girls. And I suddenly felt like a little kid compared to them. I once again felt all alone, and yearned for Hanna.

I was lost in my thoughts when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped and quickly turned around to find a petite Moroi, with brown hair pulled back into a high pony, and a smattering of freckles across her pale skin. She was laughing at me.

"A little tense, huh?"

"Sorry, this whole school thing is kind of new to me, I was sort of home schooled." I explained.

"You don't say, well I'm Molly." She said holding out her hand. I found it odd and a little formal, but I shook it anyway. "Hey why don't you eat with me and my friends?" She asked.

"Well I don't see any better offers," I joked. She gave me an odd look but then continued to lead me to the food lineup, which I almost kicked myself for not noticing before."

I felt my stomach grumble as I saw the large lineup of food, and remembered that I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. I grabbed two slices of bacon some toast and some scrambled eggs. Which I immediately covered in ketchup. And then I saw the cinnamon rolls. I managed to grab three before I saw the incredulous look from Molly. I continued to put one back and decided I was done with the lineup. I noticed that Molly grabbed a cup of yogurt and some fruit. That was so Moroi of her. She led me back to a table with two boys, and I realized that this must be her group.

"Hey guys, this is new girl. New girl, this is Blake and Sean." Blake was a cute Moroi with dark hair and blue eyes, Sean was a Dhampir with blond hair and green eyes. I blushed as I realized I was staring, and that I hadn't introduced myself yet.

"Hi, I'm Jade." I said setting my tray down on the table. The boys both eyed it.

"Someone must be hungry?" Blake said.

"Hey, back off, you don't know what it's like to be a Dhampir." Sean came to my rescue.

"And besides, I haven't eaten since yesterday." I blushed as I realized how stupid that sounded. But apparently the gang found me funny. Deciding to change the topic I asked, "So how do you guys all know each other?"

"Oh, we've been friends forever. We were in the same class in kindergarten." Molly said. "These two saved the day when I was being picked on by some girls, and ever since then we kind of stuck together."

"Such gentlemen." I said. Looking at their dynamic though, I suddenly felt home sick for Hanna. "Well I had to leave my best friend behind when my mom forced me to come here." I muttered.

"Well it's worth it, we've got some of the best guardian training around." Sean said.

"Yeah. Did you know that this is where Guardian Rose Hathaway went to school?" Molly chimed in.

"Oh really," I said starting to feel uncomfortable.

"And the queen," Molly continued. "This is where their friendship started."

"And to think any one of us could be them?" Blake said.

I didn't say anything at that, I just continued to shove my breakfast in my mouth. I knew it was wrong, but I wanted to be normal, so I didn't feel like revealing my parentage just yet.

"So what class do you have first?" asked Blake.

I revealed my time table to find that these three had the same morning classes as me. Sean and I had the same afternoon classes, but the other two had special Moroi specialization classes. The bell chimed, revealing that our breakfast was officially over. I wrapped my last cinnamon roll in a napkin and took off with the rest of the group.

Molly was the one to continue our earlier conversation. "I'm just so excited to see what element I specialize in. Hopefully it will be something cool like spirit."

I cringed at her excitement over the element know knowing all too well the side effects of such power. "Fire sounds cool too." I chimed in. Fortunately for the dragomir clan, all the kids so far had specialized in fire. But everyone was holding their breath for when Hanna specialized.

"Yeah but it's so destructive, and you only have control over fire. With spirit you get to do so much, and imagine having the ability to turn Strigoi back. You could help so many people."

"Except most Moroi are too selfish to save people." The four of us turned around to see Brandon and Matt. I blushed as Brandon switched his attention from the group to just me. "Hey Jade."

For a moment, I was struck by his attractiveness, but I decided to argue Aunt Lissa's case. "It's not being selfish, it's self preservation. Bringing a strigoi back takes a lot of power. Power that can a spirit user to a Psych ward."

"You seem to know a lot about this." Matt observed.

He caught me off guard a little, but I decided to go with the truth. "My father is a spirit user, and he is still a large part of my life." And my step dad was a Strigoi brought back, but I decided to not to mention this.

"That's pretty cool." Inching closer to me.

"But I bet he has his own family, doesn't he?" Matt chimed in.

"He does." I confirmed.

"See all Moroi just see Dhampirs as their whores." I was startled by his choice of words, and apparently so was Brandon.

"Dude cut it out." He said to Matt, and then to me he said. "I'm father did care about your mom." I nodded silently thanking him for standing up for me.

In the background another bell chimed. "Warning bell." Molly said. "We'd better go before we're late."

Blake grabbed me arm and guided me to our first class.

And then I heard, "See you around Belikov." I turned my head to see Brandon smiling at me.

We sat down for out first class when I heard Sean mutter, "What a jerk."

"A cute jerk though." Molly cut in. "Don't you think, Jade?"

I was cut off guard by the question. "Yeah, I guess."

"And to think, most girls don't see past that pretty face." Blake muttered.

The final bell went and the teacher started the class. In the morning, I excelled. Academics were my friends back at court, and apparently it showed here. The teachers were surprised at my amount of knowledge. Which didn't surprise me considering how little the other Dhampirs tended to pay attention.

I found it quite sad actually. I felt that Dhampirs didn't get much of a choice in this life. It was either fight or live a completely mundane life, probably working at some grocery store part time. I stated these views in my first novice class. Bodyguard Theory 1 with Guardian Alto.

"That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard!" Apparently this guy didn't take criticism well.

"I'm just saying that even though Moroi now get the choice to fight, with the new afterschool training, Dhampirs do not. Even though it seems like it, those who walk away are shunned in our society, especially the males. And the females who do leave are expected to live simple lives raising their children. Now does that seem fair?" I reasoned from my seat at the back of the classroom.

"Fair is our right to live." Alto argued back, "Which we do not receive if we hide."

"I'm not saying hide. I'm just saying a choice would be nice."

"Nobody wants to fight Strigoi. But it's a job that needs to be done."

"A job that very rarely lasts us until retirement. Because not everyone can be lucky and get a teaching position." Alto flinched at my words, then proceeded to grab a slip of paper off his desk.

"What's your name?" he asked grabbing a pen.

"Jade," I said confused.

Alto looked up from the paper in complete annoyance, "Jade what?"

"Belikov." I muttered.

"What?" he bellowed.

"Belikov!" I said louder, He returned to the piece of paper and then stopped suddenly. "Hathaway's daughter?"

I was taken aback, most people never made the connection between me and my mother, the last name normally put them off. "Uh…yes?" I stuttered. I suddenly felt pure horror, he was going to blow my secret.

"Oh. I didn't realize we had a celebrity in our midst." He spoke sarcastically. He then began to take an over dramatic bow. "I am honoured to meet someone with so much experience. Now tell me, how often did you leave court?"

"What."

"Exactly. Miss. Belikov, if I wanted an opinion, I would receive it from someone who actually has some experience. Not a spoiled Dhampir like yourself." His smug look made me want to punch him. "Oh and by the way. I taught your mother, I can see the family resemblance."

At that he chucked the paper slip into the garbage, his damage was done. He had succeeded in revealing my secret. I could hear the whispers of my classmates as they started to stare. Sean wouldn't look at me directly. Suddenly my stomach was in knots again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The rest of the day was pretty awful. Everyone was staring and when they weren't, they were whispering. It didn't help that I completely failed at the training portion of the day. No one would help me, especially Sean. He hadn't even looked at me since the news was delivered. I had messed up. After a long day of training I ached all over. I didn't want to think, let alone talk, so I just went back to my room. I had laid in my bed for about an hour, before I discovered that I wasn't getting any sleep. I decided to pull out my laptop and set it up. I really wanted to talk to Hanna. I smiled when I saw that she was online.  
"Hey girl!" I wrote.  
It took her no time to reply.  
"Sup sister?"  
"Just hanging in my room." I wrote back.  
"No cool parties yet."  
I smiled. "If there are, I would sooo not be invited."  
"No friends yet?" She asked.  
"Not quite."  
"Don't worry, I'm sure that'll change."  
"You're optimistic." I typed.  
"Yep well that's my job." She said.  
"How's court without me?"  
"Miserable. I miss you sooo much."  
"I miss you too."  
"I wish I could see you, you wanna video chat?" I thought about it, but decided against it. Hanna would know right away if I was really upset.  
"I would, but I gotta go get some food" I lied.  
"Maybe later then."  
"Yeah. Later." I sent back.  
I looked at the clock. I could go get some food, but then I would have to face all those people. No doubt Brandon knew by now. He probably hated me, based on his hatred for the queen. My new friends probably wouldn't even look at me, I didn't blame them. I had lied to them right off the bat.  
I rolled over in my bed, this time I managed to take a little nap. I was awoken to the door opening. I shot upright in my bed to see a girl with long dark hair and dark brown eyes.  
"You must sleep a lot." She said.  
"What?"  
"Every time I come in here, your asleep."  
I was a little bit alarmed that she had been in here before, and I guess it showed on my face.  
"I'm Selena, your roommate." She said this like I was slow.  
I blushed realizing I had forgotten I even had a roommate. "Sorry." I said. "Well, I'm Jade."  
Her eyes sparked with interest. "So you're the hotty totty Dhampir from court."  
"What!?" I exclaimed.  
"Oh yeah, it's all over school, everyone says that you're this superstar prodigy, being raised by both Guardian Hathaway and Belikov." she said.  
"Well anyone who witnessed my earlier training will know that that's not true."  
"That bad huh?" I looked at her and nodded.  
"My parents didn't go over anything with me, and I'm not exactly the most coordinated person either." I said.  
She laughed, "It'll come with practice. Our bodies are built for this, so you'll catch on soon enough."  
"Really?"  
She studied me, "You sore?"  
I nodded, "I ache all over."  
"You haven't had supper yet, have you?" I shook my head.  
"Come on let's go." She grabbed my hand and started guiding me towards the caff, I pulled back and she stopped to look at me.  
"I don't want to go in there." I said.  
"Stop being a baby. So what the whole school is looking at you. It's hardly a big deal. Those suckers will find any excuse to talk. But you need food, that muscle has to feed on something." She reasoned. I nodded, and she continued to lead me to the caff.  
"Your lucky." She said as we entered. "It's spaghetti night, and you'll need loads of carbohydrates." I grabbed a plate and she filled it up.  
"I'm good." I said, "I don't usually eat that much."  
She rolled her eyes. "Honey, you'll eat what I give you, you're in training now." She led me to an empty table.  
"Aren't you going to eat anything," I asked.  
"Already did." She said.  
I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I took my first bite. I managed to scarf down the whole plate in a few minutes. Selena started laughing at me. "See, all that training pays off."  
"It was just one day." I said, "and I didn't do very well."  
She smiled, "If your that nervous you can train with me. You'll be top of the class in no time."  
"What year are you in anyways?" I asked.  
"I'm a junior." She said. "And I'm the top of my class."  
"Let's do it then."  
I realized then that nobody was staring anymore. I looked around and spotted my group. "Hey, I gotta go talk to some people." I told Selena. She nodded, and pulled out her phone. "I'll be here kiddo."  
I walked across the room to my friends, they stopped talking as I walked up.  
"Hey Jade, where have you been." Molly asked with a bright smile on her face. To say I say I was shocked would be an understatement.  
"Aren't you guys angry with me?" I asked slowly.  
"Well we weren't sure how to make of the news, and I was a little offended at first, but then Blake explained everything." Sean said. I looked over at Blake a little confused.  
"I explained to them that being royal isn't always a piece of cake, people assuming things about you based on your last name." Blake said.  
"But I'm not royal." I argued.  
"No, but everyone knows your parents. That's close enough." Molly said.  
"And judging by the way you were in class, your parents haven't tried to prep you in any way shape or form." Sean said.  
"I don't think I was that bad." I said, knowing I truly was.  
"When we went for a run around the track, you collapsed from exhaustion before we reached a mile." Sean said.  
I groaned at the thought. It was true, and most of my classmates had actually made the required three miles. Those who hadn't were pretty close. I was the weak link in my group. I looked over at Selena and hoped that she hadn't had too high hopes for me.  
"Hopefully that will change soon enough." I then told them about my awesome new roommate. Their mouths had dropped open.  
"Selena Zeklos?" asked Molly.  
"Zeklos... but that's a royal last name." I was confused.  
"Her parents have a legit relationship, married in church and everything." Sean explained.  
"To say that her dad's family wasn't happy was an understatement." Blake said, "They practically did everything in their power to split them up."  
"Now she's trying to prove herself to her grandparents so that she might finally have their approval. She's top in all her classes, not just the novice ones." Sean explained.  
"That girl has more drive then anyone I've ever seen." Molly said. "She's going to make you work hard. Think you'll be up to it?"  
"I hope so..." I paused, "How extreme is she?"  
"She wakes up at 4 every morning to train." Sean said.  
"And works out after school for another two hours." Added Blake.  
That explained why I hadn't seen her this morning. I looked over at her, she now had a textbook pulled out. She appeared to be studying rapidly. It was only the first day of school.  
"Well, there goes my sleep I groaned." Collapsing my head into my hands. We continued to chat for another few minutes before Selena came up to us.  
"Time to go to bed kiddo, we've got an early start tomorrow morning." I said my goodbyes to my friends, who gave me sympathetic looks.  
As we headed back to our room, neither of us uttered a single word. However, after we entered our room, Selena closed the door.  
"Okay, what did they tell you?" She demanded.  
"Who?" I asked playing dumb.  
"Your friends, you've been looking at me as if I'm a big angry bear and your the last piece of fish in the lake."  
I sighed, "They told me about your parents, and your need to prove yourself."  
"That's what's got you so scared?" She asked.  
"They also mentioned how extreme you are with your training." I explained.  
Her eyes widened into sympathy, "Don't worry, kiddo, I won't go all drill sergeant on you. You'll live."  
"That doesn't make me feel any better." I said. "And quit calling me kiddo!"  
"Then quit being a kid," she replied.  
I scowled as I grabbed my PJ's, "I'll be right back." I told her. I went to the washroom and quickly changed, when I came back I saw that Selena had already pulled out another textbook and began studying it rapidly. "I thought you said it was time to sleep?" I asked.  
"I'm just going over a few more things before I go to bed." She said.  
This was going to be a long year


End file.
